Toastie & hot chocolate: £5-10
Water: 63p
Ticket: £10
Total 15-73
Tonight I managed to get lost at the Etihad! In the search for the City Academy stadium, I initially went the athletics ground next to the main stadium, before following the crowds across the Etihad campus to the right ground. New York were playing St Mirren in a slightly bizarrely timed friendly, in a stadium I'd not visited before (though it's in a grey area and is not on my 'list'). The academy stadium is well worth a visit, and could easily host some bigger non-league, or even League Two, teams. The only down side tonight was that I had to circumnavigate the entire ground just to get to the correct entrance, and just about made it for KO. There were no programmes, just team sheets, which made a refreshing change from the glossy advertising magazines which some clubs produce. I was fairly centrally placed in the main stand, a few rows up from the action, and was surrounded by Scots, Americans, and Mancs - what a lovely combination!
The opening half an hour of the game was played at a fast pace, with the triangles in midfield reminding me of a fast 6-a-side game. New York in particular applied themselves well and worked incredibly hard. The star of the show - David Villa - started brightly for New York, firing wide early on. New York's went close when one of their midfielders headed straight into the keeper's chest, before Sebastian Velasquez cut inside on his left foot, again going close. At the other end, the New York keeper fumbled a shot from James Dayton, before the same player had a left footer deflected wide. The ever-present Villa was caught offside, but then opened the scoring on 35 minutes when two players had failed to connect with a cross from the left. St Mirren didn't look altogether bad, and Thompson threatened when he reached a near-post cross shortly after, and McGinn lobbed the ball over.
The second half lost some of the pace and aggression of the first. This was when the game really became a friendly, albeit a very open one, with one of New York's substitutes - Tony Taylor - bearing the number 99, and several coming on without numbers at all. Velasquez again looked dangerous, hitting straight at the keeper again. St Mirren continued to work at the other end, but seemed to mistake this for a game of rugby when Dayton set up Goodwin, who scored what would have been a terrific drop-goal. As expected my favourite number - New York's 99 - scored a superb goal when he took down a long ball and smashed it, and he could easily have had a brace when he raced clear only to be smothered by the keeper. At this point, the game slowly descended into lots of long-range shots, although St Mirren did go mightily close to a consolation near the end.
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